Thursday, January 11, 2007

Cisco sues Apple over iPhone name

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO on Wednesday sued Apple Inc. AAPL over its use of the iPhone trademark, a day after Apple shook up the cell phone market by unveiling its sleek mobile phone using the name claimed by Cisco.

Shares of Apple, which are volatile, initially fell 1.3 percent in after-hours trade following the announcement and then pared the loss to less than half a percent.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs debuted the long-rumored iPhone at the start of Apple's annual Macworld conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, and both companies had said a deal on the 'iPhone' name was near.

"We think this is silly," said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling of the tiff over trademarks. "There are already several companies using the name iPhone for voice over IP (Internet Protocol) products."

Cisco said it wanted to keep Apple from "infringing upon and deliberately copying and using" the trademark, which the No. 1 network equipment maker obtained in 2000 after acquiring Infogear. Infogear had previously owned the trademark and had sold devices called iPhones for several years, it said.

Linksys, a division of Cisco, has been selling wireless products with the iPhone name since early last year, with new products added to the line in December. Linksys is part of Cisco's strategy to tap consumer electronics markets; Cisco early last year bought set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta.

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